IT jobs are not half as bad as they are made out to be!

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Are you a middle aged IT services professional (read 28+, since that is considered middle age in IT), who is eternally frustrated with his/her job? Do you blame your parents constantly for pressurizing you into engineering, while you wanted to go with history or fine arts? Do you feel that your life is a never ending cycle of meeting deadlines, attending late night client calls and getting (or not getting) the much deserved promotion?

You are not alone and you already know that. You are one of those thousands of young Indian millennials, who are constantly cribbing about the IT profession. But is your profession really so bad? Let’s introspect a bit.

Pay package – IT is one of the most well paid graduate professions in India. Now, you would need to be reasonable here. As compared to many other professions, like entry level government jobs, teaching or nationalized banking positions, you are paid well. And that too, at a fairly young age.

Good financial growth – your salary will increase by at least five times, in the next ten years. It rarely happens in the other aforementioned professions. If you are prudent, by 45 (50?), you will probably save enough to think about retirement. Not so easy, if you are in a more traditional profession, where the retirement age is 60 and people rarely save enough to retire early.

Onsite opportunities – if you love to travel, aspire to settle in a different country or want to make some quick money, onsite opportunities in IT are there to cater to your needs. It is not too difficult to grab an overseas assignment once you have a couple of years of experience in IT. This is not much of an option in most other 9-5 professions.

Good work environment – you are provided with a workstation in an AC cubicle, with unlimited access to high speed Internet. While you might take this for granted, your professor or civil engineer friends are not so lucky. Various professions require constant customer handling, dirty workstations with ugly washrooms and people are not even allowed to have unofficial tea breaks. Also, your manager is not as ill-behaved as you think. If you are not yet convinced, speak to a friend working in a factory, mining or core government set-up.

Corporate benefits – many of us tend to underestimate this one. Most IT companies provide their employees with excellent medical insurance and accidental insurance. Most of the employers are flexible about office timings and many of them provide some sort of transportation facilities at nominal cost. Also, few of them provide food cards, cheap canteen facilities and free tea or coffee.

Scope of innovation – it is not so easy to innovate a new thing in most professions, in IT it is a basic survival skill. Now, if you are a laid-back person, not too eager to learn new skills every other day, then IT is not meant for you. But if you love solving problems, creating new algorithms and learning programming languages, IT is a good place to be.

Good job locations – many scientists or traditional engineers need to stay at remote locations as a part of their job. In IT, that almost never happens. Most Indian IT companies are based in metro cities, thus making it easier for the employees to stay with their families. Also, those with working spouses find it easier to get a transfer or switch their jobs in case of a relocation.

Still think your job is too bad? None of the above points excite you? Then probably you are in the wrong profession and need to discover your true calling. But if even some of these do excite you, and you still feel frustrated about going to work, then your problem maybe your current project, assignment or colleagues. Do not confuse it with hating the IT profession as a whole.

About Anandita Dasgupta

Anandita is a techie, an adventurer and a closet romantic. She eats to survive and backpacks around the world for nourishment.
Her practical worldview is reflected in her crisp and relatable writing style. She writes on a wide range of topics, but her core areas of interest are travel, career and culture!

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Anandita Dasgupta

Anandita is a techie, an adventurer and a closet romantic. She eats to survive and backpacks around the world for nourishment.
Her practical worldview is reflected in her crisp and relatable writing style. She writes on a wide range of topics, but her core areas of interest are travel, career and culture!